He gets 3 months in jail for running red, killing grandpop

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Gladys Hess was very close to her brother, Nathan Pakow of Great Kills.

The two of them loved to go on picnics, take long strolls together and chat about their families — he was a grandfather and she was a soon-to-be-grandmother.

Staten Island Advance/Michael OatesJoseph Catrama, 20, had been licensed to drive for less than a month when he struck and killed Nathan Pakow on Capodanno Boulevard.

And while Ms. Hess was not present at yesterday’s sentencing of the Dongan Hills man whose speeding car fatally mowed down her brother last year, her loss was still heartrending and palpable.

“The grief is intense,” read Assistant District Attorney Mark Palladino from a victim-impact statement Ms. Hess had prepared. “My life has changed forever. I miss talking about our families. ... I miss cooking for him ... and taking long walks with him.”

The driver, Joseph Catrama, 20, was sentenced in state Supreme Court, St. George, to three months in jail and five years’ probation. He also will lose his driver’s license for five years.

PLEADED GUILTY

In January, Catrama pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide stemming from Pakow’s death on Feb. 26, 2009. Pakow, 48, was waiting for a bus on Capodanno Boulevard and Seaview Avenue about 10:40 a.m.

Catrama, then 19, had been licensed to drive for less than a month when he tried to make a left turn at a high rate of speed in his mother’s Hyundai Sonata from Seaview onto Capodanno. He blew through a red light, then jumped the curb and crashed into Pakow at the corner.

Pakow, the father of two who became a grandfather for the first time a few weeks before the crash, was pinned between a metal pole and the car’s front bumper. He was pronounced dead a short time later at nearby Staten Island University Hospital.

Catrama remained on the scene and gave his license, registration and insurance card to police. No drugs or alcohol were in his system and he’d had no prior contacts with the law, prosecutors said.

William J. Smith, spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan, said prosecutors accepted Catrama’s top-count plea because it guarantees he’s held accountable for his actions and avoids the uncertainty of a jury trial.

Smith also said no disposition could erase the Pakow’s family tragic loss.

“I’m would like to say I’m sorry for what I did,” he told Justice Robert J. Collini in a low and faltering voice.

Defense lawyer Ralph J. Porzio told the court his client was so grief-stricken that he was recently hospitalized.

“He’s told me how sorry he is,” said Porzio. “He informed me he often prays for Mr. Pakow’s soul. He wishes this never happened and he could bring Mr. Pakow back.”

Collini ordered psychiatric and substance-abuse counseling for Catrama. He said a Probation Department pre-sentencing report noted Catrama was a daily marijuana smoker, although he was drug-free when the incident occurred.
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